URBASOFIA - Portfolio

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U R B A SOFIA
Bucharest town & regional
planning company
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when knowledge gives direc ons

C o n t
Urbasofia is a town and regional planning company based in Bucharest, Romania. Based on its experience in
urban and territorial issues, the company is a laboratory for urban development, policy design and territorial
cohesion focused on developing more integrated, participatory and smart-oriented solutions to pressing
urban problems. Being highly interested in innovation within the cities and regions, Urbasofia has been
involved over time in the development and management of several EU-funded projects, strongly connected
to smart cities, strategic integrated planning, urban regeneration as well as the social impact assessment of
current urban issues and new ICT solutions under development.

1. Cities and metropolitan areas (recent coordinated strategic plans)
Integrated plan for Cluj-Napoca Metropolitan Area
Baia Mare Metropolitan Agenda
e n t s .
Alba Iulia 2030 Strategy
Strategic plan of Kavala
2. Macro-regional cooperation projects
Attractive Danube (Interreg - on territorial attractiveness)
3. Applied research projects
HORIZON2020 - Rock (cultural heritage and urban regeneration)
HORIZON2020 - proGIreg (nature based solutions for urban renewal)
Urbact - Refill (temporary uses) . BoostInno (social innovation)

Cities and metropolitan areas
Integrated plan for Cluj-Napoca Metropolitan Area
The new integrated strategic plan for the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area represents, firstly, a change of paradigm under the conceptual umbrella
“Problems first!”. We do not start neither from foreign concepts and thinking patterns that are against local level thinking or the financing
opportunities that can orient the vision of local politics towards the development of un-needed projects. On the contrary, we have pursued the
development of a strategic plan that looks beyond the bureaucratic and technical substantiation of the use of grant funds, capable of attracting and
creating opportunities for private investments, through an inclusive and perspective process.
We have approached these challenges with the aid of a dialogue-oriented methodology, already experimented in other European cities – the STATUS
Project methodology. In this approach, the decision is shared between essential stakeholders, in a participative planning process. The local
communities are, first of all, the protagonists of the planning process, co-designing the strategic plan along with the public institutions.
The new strategic plan for the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area is not a set of documents and a list of projects, but a permanent process which
launches a multi-actor metropolitan dialogue based on the creation of a Metropolitan Task Force for the area, open towards all interested parties and
based in a Metropolitan Centre.
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Cities and metropolitan areas
Baia Mare Metropolitan Agenda
Title: Baia Mare Metropolitan Area Integrated Strategic Agenda 2030
Acronym: BMMA 2030
Beneficiary: Baia Mare Metropolitan Area Association for Intercommunity Development through SEE Project STATUS
The Strategic Territorial Agenda for the Baia Mare Metropolitan Area took into consideration all of the 18 localities, members in the intercommunity
development association (Baia Mare, three towns and 13 communes). This approach aimed to overtake and to settle the multiple pressures resulting
from the changes in the economic system, in the development and planning system, from the distortions and diversified needs in the urban area, as
well as in the adjacent rural area, in order to create a development nucleus in a coherent network at territorial level. Following the STATUS
methodology for a participatory definition of the agenda (three public workshops, the constitution of a Metropolitan Task force), we designed the
following objectives for BMMA:
A. Functional urban area with competitive economic concentrations, innovative and logistic centres, strongly connected to the external markets
B. Smart specialization and consolidating the innovative process in a synergic „4-leaf clover” system, sustained by research and formation
C. Local sustainable development based on partnerships and strong urban-rural connections, by stimulating productive agriculture and eco-tourism
D. Integrated and sustainable public services systems, including transportation
E. Smart governance and the stimulation of active participation at ZMBM level
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Cities and metropolitan areas
Alba Iulia 2030 Strategy
Title: Integrated Strategic Urban Agenda Alba Iulia 2030
Acronym: Alba Iulia 2030
Beneficiary: Alba Iulia Association for Intercommunity Development through STATUS Project
A general strategy for the area has been developed before the STATUS project, the municipality (main associate) and the county capital - Alba Iulia -
lacked a strategic document to guide its development in the years to come. By entering the STATUS project, AIDA aims at developing a tool to
support Alba Iulia (the "other capital" of Romania) in shaping the integrated urban development agenda, in line with the current and current
realities for the 2014-2020 programming period.
The STATUS process is part of a higher concerted action aiming to modernize the city and its surroundings, which began in the last programming
period, when Alba Iulia has managed to attract nearly 150 million euros of structural funds, an amount , for a middle-sized city inhabited by 63500
people, was an important achievement in mitigating the effects of the financial crisis. As partners to develop participatory process local in Alba Iulia,
as well as the agenda of strategy building, we were commissioned to provide the city with a development agenda, STRATEGICS, commonly approved
and undertaken by all stakeholders, and to generate the following range of large scale cross-cutting projects to be implemented during the 2014-
2020 programming period. Our global vision was to: linking, integrating and capitalizing on previous point investments,improvement and
technical correlation, economic and social development through risk mitigation,change governance paradigm and participation by applying an EUwide
co-design methodology developed by STATUS.
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Cities and metropolitan areas
Strategic Plan of Kavala
Title: Integrated Strategic Urban Agenda for Kavala 2030
Acronym: Kavala 2030
Beneficiary: Municipality of Kavala, Greece through SEE Project STATUS
It was the aim of the Agenda to not only provide the city with a strategic development document endorsed by all stakeholders and based on the
above-mentioned key pillars, but to also to generate the next line up of transversal, large scale projects to be implemented in the 2014-2020
programming period, pursuing the use of structural funds as well as the development of partnerships and favorable conditions for private
investment. For the STATUS Agenda to reap the desired benefits in Kavala, initiatives were foreseen which would:
A. Ensure seamless integration of existing and new proposed urban functions (e.g. public open spaces, the Urban Center, existing and proposed
touristic facilities);
B. Provide the instruments, temporal and financial framework for Kavala to achieve its goals and develop its cultural, heritage, touristic and
economic potential;
C. Ensure that development happens concomitant with the protection and valorisation of the ample natural resources within the Municipality
(especially in the Eastern area) and the outstanding cultural heritage at Philippi, for which a UNESCO application has been submitted recently;
D. Provide the mechanism for direct participation of key stakeholder groups, in a process of co-design rather than of consultation or informing, for a
long-term good governance construction in Kavala.
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Macro-regional cooperation
projects
Attractive Danube
Title: Strengthening Capatities to Enhance Territorial Attractiveness of the Danube Region
Acronym: ATTRACTIVE DANUBE
Funding: Interreg Danube Transnational Programme, PA4. Well governed Danube region
Lead Applicant: Geodetic Institute of Slovenia
ATTRACTIVE DANUBE aims at strengthening multi-level and transnational governance and institutional capacities of policy planners involved in
territorial development by establishing a permanent common transnational platform for monitoring territorial attractiveness (TAMP – Territorial
Attractiveness Monitoring Platform). Through good governance, Danube region’s policies can create conditions for maximising the potentials of
territorial assets and capitals for development, thus increasing the attractiveness of territories for its residents, visitors and businesses.
The main project objective is to strengthen multilevel and transnational governance and institutional capacities of policy planners involved in
territorial development of the Danube Region, which will result in more harmonised governance system of the area. This will be achieved by firstly
establishing a permanent common transnational platform for monitoring territorial attractiveness (CO-TAMP), 11 national platforms (TAMP), and
Territorial attractiveness atlas. Secondly, we will implement an intensive capacity building programme for empowering multilevel public authorities
and civil society in 11 countries related to development planning resulting in enhanced skills and knowledge. Finally, the policy integration process,
including transnational workshops, policy recommendations and memorandum of understanding, will capitalise the results and assure the longterm
impact and leverage effect in the society.
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Applied research projects
HORIZON2020 - ROCK (cultural heritage &
urban regeneration)
Title: Regeneration and Optimisation of Cultural heritage in creative and Knowledge cities
Acronym: ROCK
Funding: Horizon 2020 | H2020-SC5-2016-2017
Lead Applicant: Comune di Bologna
ROCK aims to develop an innovative, collaborative and systemic approach to effective regeneration and adaptive reuse strategies in historic city
centres. By implementing a repertoire of successful heritage-led regeneration initiatives, it will test the replicability of a spatial approach and of
successful models addressing the specific needs of historic city centres. ROCK will deliver new ways to access and experience Cultural Heritage [CH]
ensuring environmental sound solutions, city branding, bottom-up participation via living labs, while increasing accessibility and safety in the
involved areas. The added value is the combination of sustainable models, integrated site management plans and associated funding mechanisms
encouraging PPP, based on successful financial schemes and promoting the creation of industry-driven stakeholders’ ecosystems in 7 Role Model
cities (Lyon, Turin, Liverpool, Vilnius, Cluj, Athens, Eindhoven) and 3 Replicator cities (Lisbon, Skopje, Bologna).
Urbasofia is mainly responsible for the Implementation of Role Model Initiatives through the application of ROCK technologies and tools, aiming to
redefine the accessibility to public space facilities, cultural institutions and architectural monuments through location based services while
addressing environmental changes, enhancing the potential for developing new local economies, as well as enabling local governance capacities
and efficiency.
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Applied research projects
HORIZON2020 - proGIreg (nature based
solutions for urban renewal)
ProGIreg uses nature for urban regeneration with and for citizens and stands for ‘productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban
regeneration’: nature for renewal. Dortmund (Germany), Turin (Italy), Zagreb (Croatia) and Ningbo (China) host Living Labs: post-industrial areas of
those cities where innovative new nature-based solutions are co-developed and tested with the communities living there.Local communities of the
Living Labs are central to this project and involved at all stages from design to implementation. Since there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model, local
knowledge is essential for local adaptation of the nature-based solutions. A key aim is therefore to push-start citizen-ownership, so that impact is
long-term and benefits future generations. ProGIreg’s follower cities Cascais (Portugal), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Piraeus (Greece) and Zenica (Bosnia-
Herzegovina) will closely follow the co-creation process ongoing in the front-runner cities, share and exchange ideas and plans, and replicate the
nature-based solutions developed by the front-runner cities. Since each city has its own locally specific post-industrial challenges, the follower cities
will be involved in the research and design of the models; this ensures that the solutions can be adapted and tailored to the needs of different cities.
In addition to the cities, a global network of observer cities, NGOs, research institutions, the private sector and individual citizens and activists will
have the opportunity to learn from the project, both in-person at conferences, through visits to the Living Labs, and on open-source platforms. Key
aims are to spread awareness of the potential of nature-based solutions, promote market up-take and to feed the results into EU policies and
strategies, so that nature-based solutions become the norm and not the exception.
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Applied research projects
URBACT - BoostINNO (social innovation)
- Refill (temporary uses)
Urbasofia has been involved in several URBACT projects, which are listed above:
BoostINNO (social innovation) - aims to strengthen city social innovation eco-systems, by developing deeper relations and organising the results of
the exchange of information and knowledge for the sustainable management and development of cities.
Refill (temporary uses) - aims to upscale and diffuse the urban practice of temporary use of vacant buildings and land and intensify the temporary
experiences by investigating the various action beyond temporality. As such, the REFILL network’s objective is to go one step beyond what has been
achieved previously and to contribute to a wider quest for new governance models to support temporary use.
SubUrban (planning for urban places) - aims to search an innovative and collaborative solution to the following challenge: How can we make
existing 20th-century urban tissue attractive and qualitative again? How can we add a different urban layer?’’ By reconverting the 20th-century
neighbourhoods, it will create a more sustainable and attractive environment. The network partners are all united through the pressure on urban
tissue due to rapid growth today or uncontrolled growth in the past that resulted in high densities or mono-functional areas.
LUMASEC (land use management) - deals with strategic land use management, as it is one of the most important topics for competitiveness,
attractiveness and sustainability of European city-regions.
TUTUR (temporary uses and urban regeneration) - has aimed at introducing the method of temporary use in urban regeneration to cities
participating in the network.
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Smart neighbourhood
civic educa on
+
SOCIAL
Orașul
Vechi
I. Consolida ng the system of
social innova on
II. Ac vated community and
local iden ty
III. S mula ng the civic
educa on level and developing
new entrepreneurial skills
partnership facilita on
financial ressources
ac vated community
events & ac vi es
urban accupuncture projects
non-formal educa onal programme
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THANK YOU!
R
URBASOFIA Office:
Iancu de Hunedoara Bd, no. 2, bl. H6
Bucharest, Romania
B
o
when knowledge gives direc ons
Contact us:
office@urbasofia.eu
+40 371 300 956
www.urbasofia.eu